Also, since the question is asked almost every day, maybe it would be a good idea to post Tom's current cinema settings early in this thread (I would but I do not remember his final calibration).

Thanks for starting this thread!

Yes, I would also very much like Tom's setting for newbies (I know his settings could also be used for break in, correct?), but I was not able to find them again trying to re-read all the pages. Thanks very much!

Thanks bpmurr! Yesterday or the day before you mentioned you used DVE to calibrate all the picture modes. Could you post the results when you have time?

Also, since the question is asked almost every day, maybe it would be a good idea to post Tom's current cinema settings early in this thread (I would but I do not remember his final calibration).

Thanks for starting this thread!

I will try to post what I have tonight. The power supply on my laptop went bad and I should have the new one day. It makes it a lot easier to post when I can just copy it straight from the TV instead of having to go into the other room. I'll post whatever Tom wants me to in the first post.

Quick question - would you recommend using these settings during the recommended 100hr break-in period or after the break-in period? After reading through the owner's thread I thought that it was generally recommended to leave picture settings at 50 or below during the first 100 hrs. Sorry if it's a noob type question, just a little confused.

The black level in Vivid mode is below the ability of my meter to read it, which is 0.001 fL. However, it is not suitable for serious viewing. The gamma is a horror show, much worse than Standard. The whites are severely crushed, with the gamma measuring about 0.8 from 50% to 100% input rising slowly below that until it reaches 2.1 at 10%. It is a about twice as bright as Cinema, but this is achieved by the awful gamma and a greatly oversaturated green primary, more than in Cinema.

So it is very bright. It has a very deep black. But it is no where near accurate. I wouldn't use it for anything other than gaming.

I am at 90 hrs. and I have continued to raise the Brightness control to avoid losing shadow detail. It is now at 52, though oddly the black level measures the same, 0.008 fL.

I calibrated another of these the other day and these settings were almost exactly the same, though his light output was a little lower. I am getting about 34 fL at the 60 Picture setting. Color decoding is nearly perfect, though the red primary is oversaturated and green is oversaturated and bluish. Gamma is a very linear 2.2-2.3.

The only thing missing from this is a professional gray scale adjustment.

Tom, I noticed you bumped up on Brightness again, will you please keep us updated if it needs to come up anymore. Mines at 49(dve 90 hour calibration) but it appears I have some crushing(150 hours now). Will try your 52 tonight.

Also, I will bookmark your above post so when people ask Ill link them to it to give you a break. Please update new settings in the above post.

using the AVS 709 AVCHD DVD and Philips colour analyzer my settings are virtually the same except for brightness and contrast. I set the brightness at 62 and contrast at 70. Everything else is identical to your current settings.

Would you kindly explain the big differences between the panel I calibrated vs yours?

The black level in Vivid mode is below the ability of my meter to read it, which is 0.001 fL. However, it is not suitable for serious viewing. The gamma is a horror show, much worse than Standard. The whites are severely crushed, with the gamma measuring about 0.8 from 50% to 100% input rising slowly after that until it reaches 2.1 at 10%. It is a about twice as bright as Cinema, but this is achieved by the awful gamma and a greatly oversaturated green primary, more than in Cinema.

So it is very bright. It has a very deep black. But it is no where near accurate. I wouldn't use it for anything other than gaming.

I am at 90 hrs. and I have continued to raise the Brightness control to avoid losing shadow detail. It is now at 52, though oddly the black level measures the same, 0.008 fL.

I calibrated another of these the other day and these settings were almost exactly the same, though his light output was a little lower. I am getting about 34 fL at the 60 Picture setting. Color decoding is nearly perfect, though the red primary is oversaturated and green is oversaturated and bluish. Gamma is a very linear 2.2-2.3.

The only thing missing from this is a professional gray scale adjustment.

I'll add these to the first post. Anytime you want me to update them just let me know. Hopefully this will calm people down and they stop blowing up your PM mailbox.

using the AVS 709 AVCHD DVD and Philips colour analyzer my settings are virtually the same except for brightness and contrast. I set the brightness at 62 and contrast at 70. Everything else is identical to your current settings.

Would you kindly explain the big differences between the panel I calibrated vs yours?

I'm runing the 42PZ85U, and I'd like to know about some settings that people are using exclusively for PS3 and XBOX 360.

I find that Tom's settings work well for most TV and movie watching, however I feel like I've got something wrong with those settings for gaming.

I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed a ridiculous amount of sharpness and jaggies when gaming, but I feel like it's overwhelming.

I'm using HDMI for both PS3 and 360. Both consoles are set to 1080p output as well. As Tom stated in a previous post, I agree that the "Sharpness" control seems to have little to no effect on picture when using HDMI, so I don't think that can be it.

Lastly, in a sort of ironic twist, the Dashboard on 360 appears to be fuzzy when it comes to text and graphics while outputting to 1080p. Anyone else notice this?

I just wanted to know if there's something I'm doing wrong in regards to picture settings and controls that's causing my gaming to be too sharp. Any thoughts?

I've followed most of this discussion from the previous 72 page thread on the 50PZ85U which linked me to this thread. My big question is are Tom's settings only manipulating through the user settings or do we need to manipulate the service settings as well. If so, does anyone have instructions on navigation in sm, I know how to get into it but not what to change and how to navigate to everything. If someone has those instructions that would be extremely helpful to everyone. Thanks...Newbie so please be patient!

Thank you very much for the great thread, bpmurr. I actually went through all 70-some odd pages of the pz80/85U owners thread and wrote down everyone's settings on a sheet of paper and tried them all. A combination of Tom's and one or two other people's settings got me up and running. I will post them when I get home, if I remember. I might have some TV to watch this evening...

Does anyone have any settings for custom mode? (even though the manual says its for the sd card)

After using a slightly toned down game mode for playing video games for a few days i tried custom and i think i like it better. But i havent touched it yet, its on default settings with picture at 100.

Is it necessary to access the service menu for this TV to perform at a high level or can it be done soley by the user menu. My quess is, after playing around with every selection in the user menu, that manipulating the SM long term is the way to even improve the already outstanding PQ. Next question, how to navigate and what to change in the SM?